Next week we’re running an instruction day at the club rooms for people interested in leading trips. It’s cheering to have numbers well past the minimum threshold, when last year we had to cancel. We need a continual inflow of new leaders, with a proportion of existing leaders choosing to take time out every schedule or two, having children or moving away. We don’t want to make leadership seem intimidating, nor do we want to minimise the responsibilities of this role. Hopefully we get that balance right on Saturday 9 June! If you want to come but haven’t got in touch, please drop me an email by this coming Saturday.
As we head into winter, gear starts to tell. I remember well when I started tramping with the club and had an inferior sleeping bag coupled with a [brand-deleted] inflatable mat. The coldest I have ever been is a June night at a road end in the Kawekas, under a large fly, on frozen ground. I should have been suspicious when the trip leader quickly decamped to the bus trailer after setting up the fly. For some reason (it must have been the company!) I kept coming back. But it doesn’t have to be this grim. Planning a trip to the Mangahao area in a few weeks time, I thought back to the first (and last) time I camped at that road end, about seven years ago. My clearest memory is the fly blowing away in the middle of the night, with hands so cold that moving and re-pitching was a herculean endeavour, especially as I had not yet spent $$$$ on better gear. This time, we’re going to set off really early on Saturday morning, avoiding both fly nightmares and the Friday traffic crawl.
To me winter is an ideal time to tramp because there are fewer people around. Not because I’m a misanthrope but because I value wilderness. When you’re out in the hills, it’s not generally because you’re looking to meet a crowd of strangers. (When you’re new to the club, you’ve already done that on Friday night at the station.) But in winter, the people you meet in the hills tend to be more “serious” trampers. They might have interesting stories about places you’ve been or want to go to. They might even be familiar names from hut books. While the cold puts some people off, it just makes others more determined. Plus those nice fireboxes finally have a purpose.
We’ve got an interesting range of tramps running this winter – don’t forget that trips are generally on the board about six weeks beforehand, and come down three or four weeks prior to the trip, depending on its destination. It’s not fair to leaders to expect them to reorganise food and gear allocation and transport a few days out from the trip. A bit of thinking ahead will protect you from an indolent winter. Having had May off tramping, I’m looking forward to meeting the wilderness again with renewed enthusiasm and decent four-season gear.
See below the trips running in June. If you want to lead a trip (any destination is possible!) on the weekend of 22-24 June, drop an email to and we can make up a trip sheet.